The Royal Rat Authority is a boss in Dark Souls II.
General Information
The Royal Rat Authority is fought in the Doors of Pharros, just past the second bonfire. Initially, there are just four small rats in the room; once the small rats are engaged the boss will jump down and attack.
Summoning
There are no NPCs that can be summoned as a phantom for this fight. It seems that other players can't be summoned to assist as well. This is probably due to the fact that this area is a PvP area designed to forcibly take the player into another players world.
Fight Overview
Once you enter the fog door, the boss fight does not start immediately. This gives the player some time to devise a plan to take on the first phase. Whatever choice the player makes, it needs to be acted on quickly once the rats are aggroed because the boss will soon jump down and join the fight. The small rats can inflict Toxic and stunlock the player while the Rat Authority can take the player out with one attack. Minus the small rats, the fight is reminiscent of Sif from Dark Souls.
Strategy
There are a couple of ways to tackle this boss and all ways go to killing all four of the smaller rats immediately.
Phase 1:
- Halberd - Run up to the rats, just close enough to aggro them, then run back towards the entrance. Turn around and do the sprinting normal attack to spin and kill all 4 of them.
- Sorcery - Sorceries with large areas of effect like Soul Vortex, Soul Spear Barrage and Soul Shower will be useful. Homing Soulmass is useful as a secondary line of defense. Aggro them and cast the sorcery when they can all be hit with one cast. Another very easy way to get them all out before he jumps down is to use a spell such as soul arrow. Any from the normal to great heavy soul arrow will work as long as the player can cast them in quick enough succession to get all smaller rats down.
- Pyromancy - The pyromancy to use is Lingering Flame, sold by Straid. Set up the Flames just outside of the rats' aggro range. Cast as many times as needed. Once the flames are in place, aggro the rats and run back behind the flames. The rats will trigger the Flames and die. With luck, one can deal massive damage on the boss as well. Casting Flame Swathe along with Lingering Flame will end the fight rather quickly.
- Miracle - The most essential miracle for the first part of the strategy is Lightning Spear . This is used to target each of the rats from across the arena and take them out before they can harm you or infect you with toxic damage. In order to do this, one must first target the front left one. When the spear is thrown, do not wait to see if it kills the rat. Even with a low Faith stat, the base damage will kill them. If the player does not hesitate between throws, all the rats will be dead before the boss has a chance to attack. Alternatively, one can lure all the rats to them, and cast Soul Appease to defeat them instantly. This will damage the boss as well if you are in range.
- Bow - If your bow does over 200 damage, snipe the closest rat. Then lock onto the left-most rat and shoot. Before your arrow connects, shift to the next one to the right, shoot, and repeat for the right-most rat. The Short Bow and Composite Bow work the best for this.
- Sword One of the easiest ways to beat the boss after the smaller ones are dealt with. simply equip a sword such as the broadsword a decent shield such as the twin dragon shield and stay under him the whole time and when he jumps out of the way raise it back up and sprint back under him attack his legs after he attacks. if time right you can get 1 or 2 heavy hits off on him.
Phase 2: The boss is very simple, but can be annoying. Its attacks are similar to Sif's with some differences. What one wants to do is stand under it as it has a spinning attack that will cause heavy damage and drain the stamina bar quite rapidly if blocked. It is possible to run under it and attack its left hind leg as it does its front paw swipes. Use caution as it can follow-up quickly with additional swipes. Circling to its right will help to avoid most of its attacks. It will jump away after a little bit and may do a headbutt, this attack can easily be blocked if the player has a shield with high stability. It is advisable to roll away or backstep when it is at critical health, as it will vomit an acid substance that will degrade your equipment very quickly and potentially break it.
Defenses
| Physical Defenses | |||
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| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Elemental Defenses | |||
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| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Resistances | |||
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Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | No | No |
Drops
| Item |  Royal Rat Authority Soul |
 Rat Tail |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
Notes
- Killing this boss is one of the requirements to buy the Flying Feline Boots from Sweet Shalquoir. The other boss needed to be killed is the Royal Rat Vanguard.
- All of the rats as well as the Royal Rat Authority have low resistance to fire.
- The rats can apply toxic to the player, but the boss will not. If the player gets Toxic they should prioritize finishing off the rats and then immediately healing while staying under/behind the boss.
- All of the rats can be killed in one hit from a Lingering Flame with a non-upgraded pyromancy flame.
- If the player's pyromancy is good enough, it's very easy to use Lingering Flame on the left side of the room and bait the rats to chase the player so the boss lands on the flames. Doing so will cost it 3/4 of its health if the pyromancy flame is upgraded to +10.
- The rats have a chance to drop a Pharros' Lockstone or Rat Tail when slain, making the boss area a great place to farm for lockstones.
- By using a Bonfire Ascetic on the Doors of Pharros bonfire, Ordeal's End, the Royal Rat Authority can be respawned.
Music
Videos
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Dark Souls 2 Royal Rat Authority Boss TRICKS & TIPS For Easy Kill
Dark Souls 2 Royal Rat Authority BOSS FIGHT ~ Guide for players
Dark Souls II - Walkthrough 17 - Doors of Pharros-2|Solo melee strategy
(skip to 14:40)
Let's play Dark souls II - 101 - Boss fight!!! Royal Rat Authority and how to beat him with magic|Royal Rat Authority fight with magic strategy
Dark Souls 2 - Royal Rat Authority (Melee)